During recent years mascara has become an important make-up accessory. Numerous applicators and application systems have been designed to apply mascara for increasing curl, color and length of the eyelashes. However, some application systems do not properly apply the mascara causing a build-up of excessive amounts of mascara on the lashes. This can cause the lashes to stick together, resulting in an unnatural lash appearance. Quite often the eyelashes are merely pushed back and clumped, they are not combed, uniformly coated or separated. As a result, the user may be required to redistribute the mascara and separate the lashes in order to obtain the desired natural lash appearance.
The present invention provides for a mascara application system which uniformly and evenly applies mascara, while simultaneously separating and combing the eyelashes. The mascara applicator of the present invention employs a brush having relatively fewer bristles. The bristles may also be of a finer denier. A motor can also be provided to assist in the combing and separation of the eyelashes.
The present invention can be more formally stated as a mascara application system for applying fluent mascara, that comprises an elongated shaft having brush and handle portions, and a reservoir for holding a supply of the fluent mascara which is deposited on the brush portion when the brush is dipped therein. The reservoir has an orifice or wiper for metering the mascara deposited on the brush portion. A cooperating cover member which is part of the handle portion removably engages with said reservoir member for closing said orifice opening. The cover can contain a motor operatively connected to the brush for rotating the brush during application of the fluent mascara to the eyelashes. The motorized rotation of the brush assists in applying an even and uniform layer or coating to the lashes. The brush contains between approximately 75 to 150 bristles per quarter inch of bristle material having a denier of about 0.003 to 0.004 inches in diameter. The application system has fluent mascara having a viscosity at ambient temperature in the range of about 1,500 to 25,000 poises. The combination of a brush having finer and fewer bristles and a mascara of given viscosity compatible therewith has been found to allow the eyelashes to be combed and separated as the mascara is applied.
The above combination of system elements is unique not only from a functional standpoint but is not obvious from standard usage. By this, we mean to emphasize that a standard of 199 bristles per quarter inch of brush material has prevailed for the entire industry for the past many years. Why this standard was chosen or why it has continued without change or question is obscure. One reason for a heavy concentration of bristles may be the fact that a viscous mascara fluent would tend to collapse or distort a finer bristle brush, i.e., a brush having either fewer and/or finer bristles.
This invention has derived a system that allows for a combing and separation of the lashes, which function is generally lacking with standard bristle quantities and/or deniers. We have also discovered that viscous mascara fluents at the upper end of the viscosity range, i.e., 25,000 poises, will not deleteriously effect the structural and functional integrity of a finer brush element, but rather will be more efficaciously spread upon the lashes by the finer brush.